The Town of Light: A psychological thriller with a mental health message

Preview: A dark horror game not afraid to take on complex and sensitive topics.

Despite how common mental health problems can be, understanding them, or even just discussing them without prejudice, is something of a modern invention. Unsurprisingly then, as a relatively young medium, video games haven't had the best track record when it comes to dealing with such complex issues. Games like Far Cry 3 and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare (to name but a few) have used insanity as a cheap tool and catch-all synonym to explain away the actions of a homicidal villain, which does a great injustice to those suffering from real, treatable conditions.

That's not to say some games haven't tried, though. 2013's Depression Quest successfully achieved empathy through perspective, while Square Enix's Life Is Strange treated its delicate mental health subject matter with the utmost of care. (To say more would be to enter spoiler territory.) UK studio Ninja Theory, makers of DMC: Devil May Cry and Enslaved, is even trying to tackle mental health in the action genre with the upcoming swordplay epic Hellblade. Few games, however, have dared to take the horror genre—the worst offender of all when it comes to the cheapening of mental health issues—into such brave new territory.

Screenwriter Luca Dalcò hopes to change that. His new game The Town of Light, due out on Steam in February, is undeniably a horror experience, and one that at first glance appears to walk the same clichéd path as others in the genre. It's set in an abandoned mental asylum, players take on the role of a former patient, and—thanks to said patient's psychological problems—lots of scary stuff happens.

But... The Town of Light doesn't bombard you with jump scares, or hide monsters in darkened corners for you to mow down with a shotgun. Like the great ghost stories of old, psychological horror, rather than bloody murder, is The Town of Light's forte.

The latest trailer for Town of Light

While not based on a true story, The Town of Light is a first-person adventure set in the real-world Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra, a now-abandoned psychiatric hospital in Tuscany, Italy. Volterra certainly has a history: home to more than 6000 patients, it was nicknamed "the place of no return," and was infamous for its use of electroshock therapy. The hospital closed in 1978 after the Italian government passed a law condemning harsh treatment in psychiatric hospitals, leaving a fleet of abandoned wheelchairs and eerie carvings by a particularly aggrieved decadian patient in its wake.

Plenty of urban explorers have ventured into Volterra, and it's surprising just how close Dalcò and his team have got to replicating the ominous feel of the hospital. The dank rooms littered with broken mirrors, ragged beds, and forgotten wheelchairs stand in stark contrast to the bright and sunny courtyard where the game begins, creating a fantastic feeling of foreboding as you wander into its crumbling rooms. There's a sensation that something horrible has happened within those walls, even if you're not quite sure what it is.

Further Reading

That's part of the The Town of Light's charm. There's no backstory to guide you in the right direction, or overblown exposition to detract from the exploration. What happened to this patient, how she ended up in the asylum, and why she came back again drives the game. Simple puzzles, like finding a way to reach an upper floor while pushing a wheelchair, helps things along too. Sketch-like cut scenes break up your adventure, and help to highlight some of the misunderstandings and cruelty those with mental health problems have faced in the past.

Ultimately, Town of Light's success hinges on how just how well it treats its subject matter. Certainly it isn't shy about tackling strong issues like childhood trauma and abuse. Such restraint will be difficult, particularly when cheap shocks are easier to come by. But this is another brave step in the right direction for a medium that often favours meat-headed violence over something of substance.

The Town of Light is due out this February on Steam. Initially the game will be Windows-only.

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